Brushes for washing vehicles are currently marketed which are made by three different methods. In one method, filaments are secured to the outer surface of cylindrical or semi-cylindrical cores, with the major portion of each filament extending outwardly from the core. In a second method, the filaments have ends secured in an elongate holder with the major portion of the filaments extending away from the holder. A number of such elongate brush strips are mounted around a core or shaft in parallel relation thereto to form a brush. A third method involves securing a plurality of side-by-side filaments in a single elongate filament holder, then winding the holder in spiral formation around a cylindrical core, and anchoring the holder to the core.
In one type of car-wash installation, brushes are mounted in upright position and rotated about vertical axes. Since the automobile surfaces that are to be contacted are irregular in configuration, not all portions of a truly cylindrical brush engage a car surface during the washing operation and therefore it is an advantage to have a brush whose profile is shaped to conform generally to the configuration of the surface to be contacted. Similarly, protruding parts of a vehicle, such as bumpers, sometimes cause excessive wear at localized areas of the brush. It is therefore desirable that car-wash brushes can be easily modified to vary their profiles and to change the concentration of filaments at high-wear areas of the brush.
When using the first method mentioned above, difficulty is experienced in making brushes having the required filament density and in assembling the various components of the brush. Brushes that are made according to the second or third method have the disadvantage that they are relatively expensive and, in addition, the cores must be discarded or reprocessed before they can be used again. None of the three methods produce car washing brushes that can be easily assembled or are adapted for easy modification to accommodate irregular car surfaces or various high-wear conditions of operation. The brush of the present invention is made up of a plurality of disc-like filament units that are removably mounted on a core. A similar brush construction has been used to form street sweeping brushes. However, this type of brush makes use of steel wire or tough polypropylene bristles, is substantially cylindrical in configuration, and generally requires no special external configuration for accommodating irregular surfaces or varying wear conditions. The patent to Drumm U.S. Pat. No. 3,602,936 discloses a disc-type street sweeper brush wherein the discs are disposed in close side-by-side relation to form a generally cylindrical brush. This patent also discloses a disc construction in which the adjacent ends of a split bristle-holding ring are held together by a clip which also provides abutment surfaces that are engaged in driven relation by the central core of the brush. A disadvantage of this arrangement resides in periodic engagement of the core with the clip which results in mechanical wear and possible breakage.
An object of the present invention is to provide a brush construction for a car-washing brush that lends itself for easy modification to accommodate various car-washing operating conditions, and one which features a unique design for the individual discs and for driving the discs from a central core.